Chapter 33
How had Mick found her? No matter. Certainly, after getting Cynthia's warning call, Coraline figured he'd come to the lab sooner than later. But she had more important things to worry about for that blasted Botanist had not been able to replicate the compound and she was running out of time!
Brother had discovered her duplicity in taking the compound, and of course, he would be coldly furious at being sent by their sire to the Americas to fetch her! He preferred Europe. How he must hate the inconvenience ... and her.
But she would not go back with Lance, no, that fate would be worse than real death.
She was running out of options. None of the experiments on the monkey had proven to work. Not even the least bit of transformation and she was running out of compound ... and time.
Then Mick was once again there to her rescue, so she sped out the door, hoping there was enough time to get far enough away. If he survived Lance, then she would find a way to make it up to him.
She took her time but eventually made her way back to Cynthia's hotel but found her gone! She smelled the fetid smell of fear. Perhaps the vamp had gone underground, that would be the smart thing to do.
But she owed Mick. Despite their love/hate relationship, he had still put himself on the line for her. Maybe he did still care but she knew that he was lost to her. He wanted only what she could offer. Life.
She stuffed the smaller of the two containers in her purse; then headed out to the one place she was certain it would be safe until she could return. After Lance had given up and gone home, she could start again. She frowned. How long would that be? Years. She would have to escape and leave no trail.
But first, she would have to make her confession to Mick and then disappear. Coraline went to his penthouse, putting her arms around him in gratitude, seeing Beth, who oddly didn't seem inclined to stick around. She had seen the headlines about the unfortunate murder of Beth's boyfriend.
She needed his help but had to tell him first about the French Revolution's real backstory. She had lied about being just a courtesan. He had not needed to know more than that; it had sufficed at the time.
Now he knew the truth: that not only had she had been part of the demi-monde; she and her brothers were of the royal court when they had all been turned by the same sire.
He asked her why she had become human? He really didn't know, did he? She told him that true love couldn't exist without human life. She saw his yearning and pulled out the cure, explaining it was only temporary. He didn't care; he wanted it!
And when it was coursing through his veins from the wound spot, she knew he was hers to command. Coraline had hoped it would be in time but she had lingered too long at Mick's.
Lance was there, in the alley, waiting for them. She hadn't thought this through, Mick could not help her and now he was accusing her of setting him up. But it wasn't true.
In Mick's weakened state, he could not protect himself and he was tossed around like a rag doll. Lance swooped down for the kill. No!
In the end, she knew what horrors awaited her yet, it was her turn now to sacrifice; to change all the decades by one unselfish act.
Because she loved him, she would go with Lance.
And Mick would live.
